Detroit on Thursday became the largest city in U.S. history to file for bankruptcy, as the state-appointed emergency manager filed for Chapter 9 protection.

Kevin Orr, a bankruptcy expert, was hired by the state in March to lead Detroit out of a fiscal free-fall and made the filing Thursday in federal bankruptcy court.

A number of factors — most notably steep population and tax base falls — have been blamed on Detroit’s tumble toward insolvency.

Detroit lost a quarter-million residents between 2000 and 2010. A population that in the 1950s reached 1.8 million is struggling to stay above 700,000. Much of the middle-class and scores of businesses also have fled Detroit, taking their tax dollars with them.

Orr was unable to convince a host of creditors, the city’s union and pension boards to take pennies on the dollar to help facilitate the city’s massive financial restructuring. (Read More)

Hmm, could those union and pension boards be part of the problem that drove the population out of Detroit?

Oh, you should see the caterwauling and threats on TV from the progressive leaders in Detroit vowing to block this for the pensioners. The Emergency Manager can sell off city assets and re-negotiate union contracts.

The Progressives have brought this on themselves over many decades and now as Rev. Wright would say “America’s chickens…have come home to roost”.